OXNARD : 856-Acre Project Will Be Reviewed

Plans for what could be one of Oxnard’s largest developments, with a sprawling collection of schools, houses and business parks on the city’s northeast side, will come before Oxnard planning commissioners for review on Thursday.

Known as the Northeast Community, the development is planned for 856 acres of mostly prime farmland, roughly bounded by Oxnard Boulevard on the west, Gonzales Road on the north, Graves Avenue on the east and Colonia Road on the south.

The project is expected to create 7,000 jobs, according to an environmental analysis, but would worsen noise, air pollution and traffic problems.

It would add four schools, 3,000 houses, condominiums and apartments, and 9,500 residents to an area now mostly made up of strawberry fields and cabbage patches.

The development also would include 36 acres of business parks and 20 acres of office buildings.

Plans call for the project to be built in five phases over 25 years.

Construction is not expected to begin until at least 1994, assuming the project is approved.

City officials designated the site for development two years ago when they adopted the city’s General Plan, a blueprint for future development in Oxnard.

A consortium of about a dozen landowners first proposed building in the area in the 1980s.

Those landowners are paying the city to conduct an environmental review of the site and design a master plan for the new community.

The Oxnard Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 305 W. 3rd St.

The city will accept public comments on the proposal until the end of the month.